STATEWIDE INDEPENDENT LIVING COUNCIL
November 20, 2019
11:30am – 2:30 pm
Granite State Independent Living
21 Chenell Drive, Concord, NH 
Members and Ex-Officios Attending:  Jeff Dickinson, Gary Whitmarsh, Andrew Harmon, Susan Wolf-Downes, Ellie Kimball, Erin Hall, Carrie Dudley, Joan Marcoux, Marcia Golembeski (via phone), Rose Prescott (Older Blind Representative), Daniel Frye (Designated State Entity)
Staff: Jennifer Beaulieu (SILC Assistant) 
Guests: Nicole McKenzie, U.S. Census Bureau 
Communication Access: Virginia Clark and Jodi Lefort (interpreters) 
The SILC meeting was called to order at 1:07 PM by Chair Jeff Dickinson. Attendance was taken via introductions. 
*Quorum was reached.
Approval of September 18 Minutes
Jeff asked if anyone had any changes or edits for the minutes from the last meeting. No one did.
*Motion to approve September 18th Minutes
Motion to Approve: 			Andrew Harmon
Second:				Gary Whitmarsh
All in Favor: Yes.  		            Motion Carried
Presentation on the 2020 Census
Gary introduced Nicole McKenzie who works as the Partnership Specialist for the US Census Bureau. She went over the process of gathering data for the 2020 decennial census, the purpose of the census, the laws surrounding the census, the security surrounding the census, and job opportunities for the 2020 Census. She also answered questions from the audience. Susan noted that she would create vblogs (video blogs) in sign language to let people know about the 2020 Census. 

Members agreed Jen would send the email addresses of the SILC members to Nicole in order to receive electronic materials and will also send Nicole’s contact information to the members.

Discussion and Questions on Bylaws
Jeff reported that at the recent Executive Committee meeting questions were raised about the bylaws. The questions were whether Ex-Officios need to be voted in, do Ex-Officios have term limits, and do our current bylaws follow federal laws and regulations?

Jen added that at the request of Jeff, she recently reviewed the bylaws and saw there were some parts she felt may not comply with federal requirements. She also mentioned that the bylaws haven’t been updated since 2005.

Creating an ad hoc committee of about 2 to 4 members to review the bylaws and draft up an updated version of them for the full SILC to vote on was discussed at the last Executive Committee meeting. 

Jeff wondered if there is any historical data we can use for updating the bylaws. Jeff asked that anyone interested in working on an ad hoc committee with the Executive Committee to let him know.

Discussion on SPIL Status and Task Force Reports
Susan mentioned that there has been little progress made lately by the task forces because Tobey hasn’t been around lately, and she is supposed to be coaching us on that. Jeff and Daniel reported that Tobey reached out to Jeff, Daniel, and Lisa about better defining her role as the SILC consultant going forward and what her responsibilities will be. Her sense is that she can best contribute in the development of the next SPIL and other report prep work, recognizing that the SILC has an assistant that undertakes the day-to-day management of things. 

Erin asked if we had a job description for the consultant? She mentioned that the SILC has its own needs and the job description shouldn’t be designed to fit Tobey’s needs. 

Carrie mentioned that she felt that she and Rose were getting a lot of work done when Tobey was involved but their work slowed in her absence. Rose mentioned that when Janet was the consultant, she played an important part in assisting with clarification, definition, and support for the SILC and the person who’s in Jen’s positon has a separate role. She feels that members got used to the assistance that Janet offered and expected that same assistance from Tobey. 

Daniel asked if he could receive the job descriptions for both Tobey and Jen. 
Jen shared her experience that when she first came to work for the SILC she was told by Janet that working on the SPIL was Jen’s responsibility. Once Tobey became the new consultant, Bill Finn discussed with Tobey her responsibilities and it was decided that she would do more of the clerical work for the SPIL.

Susan asked how many hours are listed in Tobey’s contract?

Daniel reported that there is a meeting pending between himself, Lisa, and Jeff to decide on what Tobey’s responsibilities should be moving forward. He thinks that the meeting should happen in early December or after the holidays, so we can have a report to share with the SILC at the next SILC meeting. He will mention that the task forces feel that their progress has slowed due to Tobey’s absence. Daniel noted that he thinks that we should let Tobey know what the SILC expects of her. If she isn’t interested in doing what is required of her position or if the SILC feels she is not the right fit, we could look into someone else to fill that position. He thinks that Tobey was offering constructive feedback on what she thought would be helpful for the SILC. 

Daniel reported that he will take a more active approach as the DSE with assisting in program and operational support of the SILC. When he first started at the DSE, he didn’t want to take away any autonomy from the SILC and its members, but he gets the sense that the SILC wants more operational and program support.  

Conference Report
Jen reported that the presentation for the youth track of the Partnering for Strength conference was canceled due to not enough people registering for the youth track. 

Membership Outreach
Jen mentioned the that at the last meeting SILC members were given an assignment that consisted of the following:
•	Naming an individual or organization that would be good to have present or have as a member.
•	Writing an “elevator pitch” that describes what the SILC is and does.
Jeff said the meeting had reached its ending time and this item will have to be pushed to the next meeting. 

Other Business 
Rose announced that she will be retiring soon and that this will be her last SILC meeting. Whomever takes Rose’s position will be the Older Blind representative on the SILC. 

Adjournment
*Motion to adjourn
Motion to Approve:			Andrew Harmon				
Second:				Ellie Kimball 
All in Favor: Yes		            Motion Carried
Meeting was adjourned at 2:29pm. 
NEXT SILC MEETING: Wednesday, January 15, 2020 (Snow Day January 22nd) at GSIL.

Recorded by Jennifer Beaulieu